White House resisted a journalist’s questioning of claims by the Trump administration on the treatment of White South African farmers — following President Donald Trump displaying a video purportedly showing burial grounds of them at the White House on Wednesday.
In hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump played a video at the Oval Office where white crosses were displayed which according to Trump were about 1,000 burial sites of White Afrikaner South African farmers. Trump has accused these farmers of being murdered and driven off their land.
But NBC News’s Yamiche Alcindor asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about the validity of the video, following the reports that the crosses in the video were for a memorial protest after the murder of a farming White couple and not burial sites.
“We know that that was not true and that the video wasn’t true,” Alcindor asked at the White House press briefing on Thursday.
Leavitt and Alcindor sparred and talked over one another, with Alcindor asking, “What protocols are in place when there’s unsubstantiated information being put out for the world and world leaders?”
Leavitt then stepped in and ended the exchange, claiming the video was not unsubstantiated.
“What is unfounded in the video?” Leavitt asked. “The video contains crosses that symbolize the dead bodies of individuals who were racially persecuted by their government. In fact, The Associated Press, for goodness sake, has a photo of that very memorial in the caption from The Associated Press is ‘Each cross marks a white farmer who has been killed in a farm murder.'”
“So it’s supported. And it’s not just by that video and the physical evidence that everyone saw on display in the Oval Office, but it’s also supported by another source in this from The Associated Press,” Leavitt said. “So take it up with them if you think the complaint is unsupported. And that’s a ludicrous line of questioning.”
The crosses shown were part of a protest that took place after a white farming couple was murdered in 2020, The Associated Press reported, citing South African news outlets.
Trump explained to Ramaphosa at the White House that the graves along the side of the road are tended to by individuals who want to “pay respects to their family member who was murdered.”
“Have they informed you where that is, Mr. President?” Ramaphosa asked. “I’d like to know where that is. Because this I’ve never seen.”
“I mean, it’s in South Africa, that’s where,” Trump replied.
“We need to get to the bottom of it,” Ramaphosa replied.